Snow plow with power driven rotor



H. 5. BROWN SNOW PLOW WITH POWER DRIVEN ROTOR April 10, 1956 5Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 25 1951 pm w H hEZEPUW/H W M April 10, 1956 H.5. BROWN 2,7

SNOW PLOW WITH POWER DRIVEN ROTOR Filed July 25, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2April 10, 1956 2,741,042

' H- 5. BROWN SNOW PLOW WITH POWER DRIVEN ROTOR Filed July 25, 1951 3Sheets-Sheet 3 W Hugh 5 Brawn United States Patent SNOW PLOW WITH POWERDRIVEN ROTOR Hugh S. Brown, Wauwatosa, Wis., assignor to Briggs &Stratton Corporation, Milwaukee, Win, a corporation of DelawareApplication July 25, 1951, Serial No. 238,515

Claims. (CI. 37-43) This invention relates to snow plows of the typehaving a power driven rotor and relates more particularly to a smallsnow plow of the type which might be referred to as a mechanical shovel"and which is especially suitable for use in clearing sidewalks,driveways and the like.

Relatively small snow plows of the type here under consideration arenormally powered by a single-cylinder internal combustion engine, andthey are useful to householders and to filiing station operators andother merchants who have sidewalk and driveway areas which must becleared of snow from time to time and which are too large to beconveniently cleared with a shovel, but are, nevertheless, too small tobe economically plowed with the type of equipment usually used forclearing streets and highways. A snow plow for this purpose should berelatively light and easily handled and should be inexpensive topurchase and operate, but it should nevertheless do its work quickly andefliciently. Such a snow plow must also be ruggedly constructed anddependable in operation so that it will not need frequent or costlyrepairs. It is also important that it be capable of being stored in arelatively small space during the major portion of the year when it isnot being used.

It is thus an object of this invention to provide a small and eflicientsnow plow of the character described which is especially suited forclearing sidewalk and driveway areas that are too large to beconveniently cleaned with a shovel and too small to justify the use ofordinary snow plow equipment;

Another object of this invention resides in the provision of a snow plowof the character described having a novel power driven rotor which willthrow snow a substantial distance to one side of the plow, rather thanpushing it into a deep drift immediately adjacent to the plowed swath asis the case with a fixed-blade type snow plow.

Another object of the present invention resides in the provision of ahand propelled snow plow which will clear a relatively wide swath on asnow covered surface and which has provision for adapting it to variousconditions of depth and consistency of snow to be removed.

With the above and other objects in view, which will appear as thedescription proceeds, this invention resides in the novel construction,combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafterdescribed and more particularly defined by the appended claims, it beingunderstood that such changes in the precise embodiment of thehereindisclosed invention may be made as come within the scope of theclaims. I

The accompanying drawings illustrate two complete examples of thephysical embodiment of the invention constructed according to the bestmodes so far devised for the practical application of the principlesthereof, and in which:

Figure 1 is a top view of the snow plow of this invention, a portion ofthe housing being cut away to illustrate rotor detail;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the snow plow of this invention;

Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the snow plow;

. Figure 4 is a sectional view through the housing of the snow plow ofthis invention, taken along the line 4-4 in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a top view of a modified embodiment of the snow plow of thisinvention; and

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a modified rotor.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, in which like numeralsdesignate like parts throughout the several views, the numeral 5designates generally a carriage for the snow plow of this invention,comprising a frame 6 and a housing 7 mounted at the front of the frame.A pair of wheels 8, directly under the frame, and a skid 9, at the frontof the housing, mount the carriage for forward movement across adriveway, sidewalk or other surface to be plowed. Handles 10 are securedto the frame to enable the operator to push the plow along, wheelbarrowfashion, and these handles are preferably held in place by means such asnuts and bolts 11 which permit them to be readily removed so as toreduce the storage space required by the plow.

As the snow plow is moved along, a rotor 12 mounted in the housing 7 andhaving paddle-like blades 13, acts upon the snow in its path to lift thesame and throw it to one side of the plow. The rotor is actuated by aninternal combustion engine 14, or other suitable prime mover, mounted onthe frame and drivingly connected with the rotor as by means of a belt15 trained over driving and driven pulleys 16 and 17, respectively, onthe motor and rotor shaft. The rotor imparts upward and sidewardacceleration to snow engaged by it in such a way as to throw such snowwell clear of the path of the plow, and the peculiar shape of the rotorblades and novel disposition of the rotor axis are in large partresponsible for the efficiency of the plow of this invention.

The rotor is mounted in the housing with one end of its axisconsiderably higher than the other so that the rotor axis may be said todefine an acute angle to the horizontal or to the surface to be plowed,but it is nevertheless disposed transversely to the direction of motionof the plow. Eminently satisfactory results are obtained with four flatrotor blades of metal or other suitable material, but if desired blades13 (see Fig. 6) may be employed which are curved in cross section. Ineither case it is of course essential that the edge 18 of each rotorblade which sweeps across the surface to be plowed should be parallel tosuch surface at the bottom of its orbit, and the edge 18 must thereforetaper or converge toward the low end of the rotor axis as best seen inFigure 3. In other words, the surface-engaging edge 18, whether straightor curved along its length, must lie in a plane disposed at an acuteangle to the rotor axis and corresponding substantially to the plane ofthe surface to be cleared.

In order to hold the blade area and the housing size down to reasonablelimits the blades are pentagonal with side edges 19 and 20 of each bladepreferably perpendicular to the rotor axis, and with an edge 21 at rightangles to the surface engaging edge 18 and at an obtuse angle to theside edge 20 at the high end of the rotor axis.

While the most efiicient cleaning action is obviously obtained when thesurface-engaging edge 18 of each of the rotor blades actually touchesthe surface to be cleared at the bottom of its. orbit, it will be seenthat this is normally impracticable since small irregularities in thesidewalk or other surface to be plowed would either obstruct therotation of the blade or seriously damage its edge. To circumvent thisdifliculty, the edge 18 of the metal blade proper clears the surface bya substantial distance, and a strip 23 of rubber or other resilientmaterial secured to said edge of the blade forms a flexible bladeextension which will yieldingly pass over irregularities in the surfacewithout damage either to itself or the surface to be cleared, while atthe same time enabling the plow to remove snow clear down to thepavement.

The rotor is of course so connected to the motor as to be rotated in thedirection indicated by the arrow (see Figure 1) or, specifically, in adirection such that each rotor blade moves forwardly and upwardly fromthe position at the bottom of its orbit wherein it engagesthe surface tobe cleared, to thereby propel snow engaged by the blade upwardly and tothe side of the snow plow. it will be seen that the tilted dispositionof the rotor axis causes every point along the surface engaging edge 18of the rotor blade to be moved upwardly and toward that side of the plowcorresponding to the low end of the rotor axis as the blade passes thelowermost point in its orbit, and because of this sideward motion of theblade the snow engaged thereby will be propelled to said side of theplow. It will also be seen that as a consequence of this tilteddisposition of the rotor axis and the taper of the surface engaging edge13 of the blades, the outer end of each blade edge 18 (i. e., that endwhich is at the side of the rotor corresponding to the high end of itsaxis) will be moving faster than the inner end thereof, due to itslarger rotational orbit, and consequently the snow engaged by the outerend of the blade will be accelerated more rapidly and thrown fartherthan that engaged by the inner end. Thus assurance is bad that all ofthe snow engaged by the rotating rotor blades will be thrown well clearof the track of the advancing plow.

The rotor is jonrnaled in bearings 24 and 24 secured to a pair ofopposite walls of the housing now about to be described. The housingserves to prevent snow engaged by the rotor blades from being thrown inany direction except forwardly and to the side of the snow plow, and toachieve its purpose comprises a rear wall 25 which is bolted orotherwise secured to flanges 26 on the front of the frame 6, side walls27 and 28, a top wall 29, bearing walls 30 and 31 and a bottom wall 32,all of said walls being joined to the rear wall. The housing is ofcourse open at its front. The cross sectional shape defined by theseseveral walls is such that substantially the entire inside of thehousing is swept by the rotor blades in the course of their rotation tothereby prevent accumulations of snow inside the housing.

The forward portion of the bottom wall of the housing extends from aline below and slightly to the rear of the rotor axis straightrearwardly, parallel to the ground, for about half its length, andthence extends upwardly at an obtuse angle to join the bottom of therear wall and to thus conform substantially to the lower portion of therotor blade orbit in the area behind the line along which the bladesengage the surface to be cleared. The side wall 28 at the high side ofthe rotor axis extends substantially vertically upwardly from the bottomwall for about half its height and thence is turned inwardly at anobtuse angle to its upright portion to provide the upper bearing wall 31to which the upper rotor bearing 24 is secured. The opposite side wall27 is preferably integral with the top wall and extends substantiallyvertically downwardly therefrom for about half the height of the housingto its intersection with the lower bearing wall 30; and the lowerbearing wall, to which the lower rotor bearing 24 is of course secured,connects said side wall 27 with the bottom wall.

The two bearing walls are parallel to one another and lie in planesdisposed at an acute angle to the horizontal and parallel to thedirection of motion of the plow, or in other words are normal to therotor axis. The lower bearing wall 30 extends forwardly of the rotoraxis a substantial distance and is flared outwardly, as at 33,

with its bottom edge parallel to the surface to he plowed, to provide ascoop whereby snow at the low side of the rotor axis is deflected intothe rotor. The skid 9 is secured to the front bottom of this scoop.

Preferably the upper bearing wall 31 is integral with the side wall 28and comprises an inward and upward extension thereof, and the top wall29 extends horizontally over the upper bearing wall and thencesubstantially vertically downwardly to overlap the side wall 28 justbelow the line along which it is bent to define the upper bearing wall.The portion of the top wall which thus extends across the upper bearingwall cooperates with the latter to define a housing or guard 34 for thebelt 15. The front end of this guard is closed by a triangular wall 34which prevents snow and other foreign matter from entering the guard andfouling the drive mechanism.

The side wall 28 extends forwardly from the rear wall substantially to aline which intersects the rotor axis, and an extension 35 is hingedlyconnected to the side wall along this line. This extension 35 may beswung to various positions about its hinge 36 or pivot axis, from aninnermost position in which it forms a substantially straight-forwardextension of the side wall 23 to an outermost position in which itdiverges from the rotor at a substantial angle to the side wall to thusprovide a scoop which engages snow at the side of the rotor orbit andscops it into the rotor as the plow is moved ahead.

The scoop-like extension 35 can be held in any of several positions ofadjustment by means of a bolt and wing nut 36' secured in one of aseriesof holes on a flange 37 on the top of the scoop, registering with a holein a tab 38 on the front Wall 34' of the belt guard portion of thehousing. Adjustment of this scoop accommodates the plow to varying snowconditions. If, for example, the snow to be plowed is unusually deep orvery wet, the plow can be pushed more easily by the operator if anarrower swath is plowed and accordingly the scoop-like extension willbe adjusted to a position in which it is more nearly aligned with theside wall.

In the modified embodiment of the snow plow of this invention shown inFigure 5, the rotor revolves in the opposite direction from that in theform of the invention discussed above, i. e., the blades move rearwardlyand upwardly from their surface engaging positions. This achieves theadvantage of not throwing snow ahead of the plow, where it mightaccumulate against a doorway or in an area which is not intended to beplowed but in which a drift would be undesirable.

In this modified version of the snow plow the top wall of the housing isomitted so that snow carried rearwardly by the rotor can be thrownupwardly and to the side of the housing. The rear wall 25 of the housingwill of course prevent snow from being thrown rearwardly, back over theplowed swath. The housing is strengthened, in the absence of the topwall, by means of a suitable rigid band or strap 40 which is connectedat its ends to the side wall 27 and upper bearing wall 31, at the frontof the housing.

From the foregoing description, taken together with the accompanyingdrawings, it will be readily apparent that this invention provides anunusually simple, compact and efiicient hand propelled snow plow ormechanical shovel and that by reason of its novel rotor the snow plow ofthis invention will throw snow well to the side of its path rather thanpushing it into a deep drift immediately adjacent to its swath.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a snow plow: a carriage movable across a surface to be plowed; arotor having a spindle; means rotatably mounting said rotor on thecarriage with the spindle axis normal to the direction of carriagetravel and with one end of the spindle lower than the other; and aplurality of circumferentially equispaced paddle-like blades on therotor, each having an inner portion edgewisc S6CUI'6-ll to the spindleand substantially parallel thereto, and having an outer portion providedwith an edge spaced from the spindle and tapering toward a point on itsaxis spaced be neath the low end of the spindle, said edges of theblades travelling in an orbit the bottom of which is tangent to ahorizontal plane, and said edges being so arranged that points thereonclosest to the spindle will pass through a vertical plane containing therotor axis not later than points along the outer portions of said edgesduring rotation of the rotor in one direction; and means for rotatingthe rotor in said one direction so that the blades will throw snow whichhas been flatwise engaged by them near the bottom of their orbitsupwardly and to one side of the path of movement of the carriage.

2. In a snow plow of the character described: a rotor housing open atits front and having an upright rear wall, spaced apart substantiallyupright side walls, spaced apart substantially horizontal top and bottomwalls, and a pair of spaced apart, angularly disposed, substantiallyparallel bearing Walls, one of which connects said bottom wall with oneside wall and the other of which connects said top wall with the otherside wall; a rotor in said housing journaled in said bearing walls withits axis normal to them and parallel to the rear wall so that the end ofthe rotor adjacent said one side wall is lower than the other endthereof; a plurality of blades on said rotor, disposed paddle-wise aboutits axis for fiatwise rotation and each having an edge spaced from therotor axis and converging toward the lower end of the rotor so that allpoints on said edge of the blade are substantially parallel to thebottom wall of the housing when the blade is at the bottom of its orbit;the convergent edge portion of each blade being so disposed that pointsthereon closest to the rotor axis will sweep across said surface notlater than points thereon farther from the axis; means mounting thehousing for forward movement across a surface to be plowed with its rearwall normal to the direction of motion and the bottom wall parallel tosaid surface and the rotor at a height above the surface such that saidedge of each rotor blade sweeps flat-wise across said surface, closelyadjacent thereto, at the bottom of its orbit; and motor means mounted onsaid mounting means and drivingly connected with the rotor to rotate thelatter in a direction to carry the blades of the rotor flat-wiseforwardly and upwardly from the bottom of their orbit, so that snowengaged by each blade will thereby be thrown upwardly and to the lowside of the rotor.

3. The snow plow of claim 2 further characterized by a forward extensionof said other side wall of the housing, diverging laterally outwardlyfrom the neighborhood of its intersection with a vertical plane throughthe axis of the rotor blade orbit and extending downwardly substantiallyto the plane of said bottom Wall, so as to scoop snow at said side ofthe housing into the orbit of the rotor blades.

4. The snow plow of claim 2 further characterized by the fact that themarginal portion of said converging edge of each rotor blade comprisesresilient material adapted to be yieldingly deflected by smallirregularities in the surface to be plowed, without permanentlydeforming the blade.

5. The snow plow of claim 2 further characterized by the fact that saidmotor means is drivingly connected with the rotor by means of a belttrained over a driving pulley on the motor means and a driven pulley onthe rotor on the outer side of said other bearing wall; and furthercharacterized by the provision of guard means for the driven pulley andbelt, said guard means being fixed to the housing and of angled crosssection and having its legs defined by surfaces substantially coplanarwith the top wall and said other side wall.

7 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS18,615 Urmy Nov. 10, 1857 393,240 Jull Nov. 20, 1888 395,548 CorbettJan. 1, 1889 1,484,555 Ghione Feb. 19, 1924 1,616,466 Pederson Feb. 8,1927 1,886,069 Wandscheer Nov. 1, 1932 1,889,667 Klauer Nov. 29, 19322,061,585 Meyer Nov. 24, 1936 2,173,790 Philp Sept. 19, 1939 FOREIGNPATENTS 276,654 Germany July 16, 1914 198,076 Switzerland Nov. 1, 1938

